Coolers/dryers for agricultural products such as pellets, flakes, meal, expandate products and the like are well known in the industry. These cooler/dryers have conveyors which generally take the form of pans for receiving the product and conveying the product through a gas chamber, typically air, where the product is dried and cooled. A typical example of a cooler/dryer of this type is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,653,044, of common assignee-herewith. As disclosed in that patent, product flows through an inlet to the cooler/dryer housing onto an upper conveyor which conveys the product through a chamber receiving cooling/drying gas, e.g., air, from side vent openings, i.e., inlets through the side walls of the housing. The upper conveyor discharges the product onto an underlying conveyor which also flows through the chamber for drying/cooling the product prior to discharge at the end of the underlying conveyor. A negative suction is applied to a gas outlet at the top of the housing so that gas passing through the chamber cools and dries the product on the conveyors.
While the cooler/dryer of that patent has performed satisfactorily, two problems remain unique to coolers/dryers of this type. First, the cooler/dryer inlet or feeder must provide a consistent level bed of product on the conveyor to ensure that the product is evenly cooled/dried across the entirety of the conveyor bed. Various devices have been employed to spread the product across the conveyor bed and use of those devices themselves may cause additional problems in the cooler/dryer. Secondly, cooling/drying air must not be allowed to cycle around the bed of product, reducing the effectiveness of the entire system. For example, with the product inlet at the top of the machine housing and air being drawn in through the sides of the housing for discharge through the air exhaust at the top of the housing, there remains the possibility of air bypassing the cooling/drying chamber, particularly about the rear inlet seal, hence minimizing the effectiveness of the flow of air from the air inlets past the product on the conveyors.